


Covert Operative

by thecomfortofoldstorries



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Covert Operation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gun Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Spies & Secret Agents, lambden
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:54:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28975434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecomfortofoldstorries/pseuds/thecomfortofoldstorries
Summary: Lambert finds out his live-in boyfriend Aiden isn't who he says he is.Only because their lives are in danger.
Relationships: Aiden/Lambert (The Witcher)
Kudos: 32





	Covert Operative

**Author's Note:**

> this is loosely hurt/comfort.  
> think an angsty episode of NCIS or Covert Affairs.

He’d found out by teasing Aiden about missing an exit. 

Aiden didn’t miss anything; he skipped it. Then drove them in circles, checking his mirrors the whole way, as he tried to convince Lambert he was just looking for something.

Lambert unbuckled and threatened to roll out of the car on a side street before Aiden finally admitted it. 

_Covert operative_ , he’d said. Lambert had been thinking about _proposing_. To a _spy_.

They now sat across from each other on the upper level patio of a quaint little bistro, rather far away from the farmers market they were headed to, and Lambert was absolutely livid. Aiden ordered for them while Lambert pretended to be on his phone. Aiden had taken the battery out of that though, so it was more an excuse to not talk to him. 

“Bert-”

“Don’t fucking call me that,” Lambert snapped, barely keeping his voice low enough, “Only family calls me that.” 

The hurt on Aiden’s face wasn’t even slightly hidden and, _oh_ did Lambert want to believe it was genuine, “I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you. I did. But knowing placed you at greater risk.”

Lambert locked eyes with him, lips pressed together in a thin narrow line and eyebrows arching up as if to say “bang up job”, but he kept silent. 

“You don’t have to believe me right now. I just need you to listen to me. Please,” Aiden looked almost terrified for a moment before he schooled his features. He just looked like your average person out on a date with their live-in significant other. The pistol in his laptop case sitting on the table was the only thing an outsider would find odd.

Looking at Lambert was completely different.

He was breathing heavy, bouncing his knee fast enough the cooks in the kitchen below them could probably feel it, and the murderous look in his eyes alone would have killed someone unaccustomed to it. 

“I don’t even know you.” he growled.

“I’m still me. I swear to God, this was the only lie I ever told you,” Aiden offered a soft smile as he leaned forward a bit, “And that I liked your experiment with growing tea. So two lies.”

Lambert scoffed, crossing his arms and looking across the street. 

“Be as angry as you want. Hell, take a swing at me once we make it to a safehouse. But please - Lambert. Please tell me you can follow my instruction to the letter. You can hate me, and I’ll understand that, but I need to make sure you’re safe.” 

“Fine.”

A different waitress set their food in front of them in the tense silence that followed and just before she left Lambert noticed the edge of her tattoo peeking out underneath her shirt sleeve.

He glanced up at Aiden and made a split second decision, turning to the server, “Cool tattoo! Where did you get it? I’ve been looking for a good artist.” 

She blinked at him with round brown eyes before smiling and tucking her short curly hair behind her ear, “In Panama, actually. I had an interesting summer holiday last year.”

Something in Aiden shifted when she rolled her sleeve up and showed them the sailor’s Celtic knot taking up all of her inner forearm. Lambert looked politely, leaning into the ‘don’t raise suspicion’ issue Aiden had pressed.

“You make much better holiday tattoo decisions than I do. You know,” he cocked his head to the side and squinted a bit, “You look really familiar. Do you work anywhere else? I swear I’ve seen you before.”

She shrugged, “I’ve had to bounce around lately.”

“Renfri!” Lambert exclaimed, “You worked at the plant nursery! Sold me the giant monstera plant!” 

Aiden couldn’t have been any more tense as Renfri just nodded and made some excuse about getting back to work. 

“What? You told me to be as normal as possible.” 

Aiden stood as soon as she’d disappeared down the stairs, grabbing his computer bag before gripping Lambert’s wrist and hauling him up, “We have to go.” 

Lambert stumbled as he followed after him, a lead weight settling in his stomach, “She doesn’t work at either of those places, does she?”

“No. That was a completed knot. We need to move fast,” Aiden ducked into an employees only staircase that spit them out in a parking lot one street from their car. He broke into a dead sprint down an alley after a glance behind him. 

As soon as they’d cleared the brick, a bullet lodged itself where Lambert’s chest had just been a moment before. 

His whole body felt numb with shock. Aiden pulled him forward and shouted something at him but he didn’t register it until the third time. 

“ _Lambert! Climb through the fucking window!_ ” Aiden was nearly screaming at him but shook his head and kept pulling him away from the open window that looked like it had been recently broken. Did… did Aiden do that?

He actually took a turn onto a busy street and sprinted up a block before diving right out in front of traffic, Lambert still in tow. They ran for another couple blocks before they dove into another alley that Lambert recognized as leading to their parked car. He had no idea if they were still being followed but he didn’t much care. He barely registered Aiden glancing back to check on him, didn’t even think he might be checking to see if Renfri was behind them. 

She wasn’t. She was leaning against their car, casually checking the chamber of her gun. 

“There you are boys!” she smiled brightly, “Took you long enough.”

Aiden slid to a stop on the gravel, keeping his fingers laced through Lambert’s, “Shrike.” 

“Cat,” She let go of the slide and the snapping sound echoed through the courtyard parking lot, “You killed my sister.”

“I didn’t.”

Lambert was starting to feel light headed as his mind caught up.

“No,” She conceded, “But you might as well have. What you stole got her executed.” 

“You two shouldn’t have gotten mixed up with Skinner.”

Before the last word had left Aiden’s lips Renfri raised her gun and fired.

She’d been aiming straight for his heart but Lambert shoved him aside with every last bit of strength he had. He felt a searing pain flash through his shoulder, outright blinding, even before he registered the crack of the shot. There were two more cracks back to back then nothing for a moment. There was one set of footsteps on gravel then one more sounded before the ringing in his ears muffled everything else.

Aiden was over him soon after, scrambling to stop the bleeding and yelling… something… but Lambert couldn’t hear him and his eyelids were feeling heavier and heavier by the second. 

-

Lambert tried to wiggle his nose and get rid of the itch as he woke up, but it only got worse. He tried to scratch it and ended up smacking himself in the face. His limbs felt heavy and there was a tube under his nose. 

Oh.

He was in a hospital. 

Where was Aiden?

He forced his eyes open as Aiden gently picked his hand up off his face. His eyes were red and a little puffy and he looked downright awful. There was blood all over his shirt, a little in his hair, and the bags under his eyes were a deep shade of purple. 

“What.. what are you…?”

Aiden bit his bottom lip for a moment before taking a shaky breath, “I’ll go if you want me to. I just needed to see you wake up,” he barely choked out his words as his eyes welled up with tears. 

Lambert frowned, “No. Stay.”

Aiden tried to laugh but it came out as more of a sob as he grabbed Lambert’s other hand and cradled it in his, “I’m so sorry…” he whispered. 

Lambert gave his hands a squeeze, “Please don’t go.”

“I won’t,” Aiden shook his head, “I’ll do anything you want me to.”

“Get me out of here?” Lambert grinned.

Aiden snorted, wiping at his nose with his bloodstained sleeve, “Anything but that.” 

They smiled and fell into a heavy silence. Aiden stared at their hands where he not so slyly kept a finger over Lambert’s pulse. 

“Hey,” Lambert’s voice had a husk to it that he only got when he was about to cry, “I still love you.”

Aiden just stared at him with wide eyes. 

“I’m scared, but I love you,” he repeated. 

Aiden leaned over and kissed his forehead, tears falling over his hair, “I love you too.”


End file.
